High-ranking UN official made a commitment on Wednesday to help Laos prevent trans-national terrorism in line with the government's request for more cooperation between Laos and the UN on this issue.
UN Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, Mr Mike Smith, made the statement at a press conference in Vientiane , committing to assist Laos through various UN bodies available in the region.
The conference was held during Mr Smith's working visit to Laos from May 11-15.
“When we find an area where we think it is really important that something happens we undertake to try to find the appropriate authority that can assist and address that issue,” Mr Smith said.
The UN has involved a number of different organisations in dealing with various terrorism-related issues. An official with the Asian Development Bank has been working in Laos for around nine years on financing and money laundering issues; he knows how to help and what might be needed in that particular field, Mr Smith said.
“We also have someone from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime based in Bangkok who has specifically dealt with terrorism and immigration. He has run training courses in drafting border registration processes, along with someone from the International Organisation for Migration - again an expert in migration matters,” he said.
He stated that through future cooperation and discussion with Lao officials during this visit, these organisations would be able to provide assistance very quickly.
Beyond that, a lot of assistance in these areas as well as the introduction of various technologies and techniques had been carried out with help from Lao partners, he said.
He added that if the Lao government was in agreement with such cooperation, the UN would consider a bilateral dialogue. “We are now interested in Laos and we have now got programmes here,” Mr Smith said.
His response was made after a request by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bounkeuth Sangsomsak, who said that although Laos had not experienced terrorism, no one knew what might happen in the future. This led him to believe future cooperation between UN and Laos was essential.
Mr Smith's visit also aimed to deepen the dialogue with the Lao government on the implementation of the UN Security Council's resolutions on counter-terrorism and how the international community could help Laos in its efforts to prevent terrorism.
Mr Smith visited Wattay International Airport and the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge to check security mechanisms for the inspection of equipment that might be brought into the country by terrorists to conduct their activities.
He praised the measures already taken in Laos and said they had been successful.
But the prevention of terrorism required cooperation from all countries and, although terrorism had not yet occurred in Laos , the worry was that terrorists would align themselves with a criminal network, he said.
When terrorists were attacked in one place they moved elsewhere, so there was a chance they might come to Laos one day and this was why border cooperation was so important.
Mr Smith said terrorism was carried out by individuals acting outside state control. It was different from military action carried out by a governm ent, when the UN Security Council could take measures against a government if they performed illegally military action.
“The problem is that terrorist groups are not controlled, so it is difficult for the international community to deal with them through international laws. That's why this is a particular challenge and we need particular measures in place to deal with terrorism,” he said.
During his visit to Laos , Mr Smith paid courtesy visits to a number of senior Lao officials including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith, who is also Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the implementation of the UN Security Council's resolutions, and the Minister of Justice.
Exactly what Vang Pao and his gang would do had their plan was carried out last year. They would bomb the historical buildings i.e. That Luang, Victory gate, Royal Palace, Vad Phrakaev and many more. They would assassinate the Lao Gov. leaders, kill innocent people. Then change Laos to ????. They would do something like 9-11 in New York. Unfortunately, nobody was on their side this time. U.S. authorities had them arrested and put them in jail then U.S. court put them in House arrest until now. Thanks to U.S. Gov. Wake up my Lao fellows. This June will mark one year of that plan.
You should continue reading Laos 2 be Lao. Turns out Vang Pao wanted ablolutely nothing to do with all that foolishness. Was just a huge sting operation dreamed up by one US informant and an old Vietnam era veteran living in some kind of fantasy world. They were about as close to doing harm to Laos as they were close to traveling to Mars.
Two sides to every story, that's why we have that "inocent until proven guilty" law.
Turns out that whold Vang Pao deal was a bunch of bunkum.
You should continue reading Laos 2 be Lao. Turns out Vang Pao wanted ablolutely nothing to do with all that foolishness. Was just a huge sting operation dreamed up by one US informant and an old Vietnam era veteran living in some kind of fantasy world. They were about as close to doing harm to Laos as they were close to traveling to Mars.
Two sides to every story, that's why we have that "inocent until proven guilty" law.
Turns out that whold Vang Pao deal was a bunch of bunkum.
Vang Pao is Hmong terrorist leader . He will die in the prison .
My fellow Lao. We have to wake up and stand in the same boat. We should be proud of ourshelves that we have our nation's name "Laos" in the world's map. We have to protect things that our heroes left for us. I don't know where to hide my face if some minority group seizes Laos and dominate us. We as majority will become minority. And things might not be the same and/or cannot be reversed. Remember this "Together we stand, Divided we fall".
